Niels Mede, University of Zurich – Is There a Crisis of Trust in Science?

When it comes to trust in science, it depends where you look.

Niels Mede, science communication researcher at the University of Zurich, delves in.

Niels G. Mede is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and fellow of the Digital Democracy Centre in Odense, Denmark. He studies science communication, focusing on digital media, public perceptions of science, and harassment of scholars. He currently co-leads the TISP project, a global survey study on public attitudes to science.

Is There a Crisis of Trust in Science?

There is a widespread crisis of public trust in science, they say. Who says that? Pundits. Media headlines. Your uncle at the dinner table. Often without robust scientific evidence.

A trust crisis would be a problem. Science needs to be trusted to inform people’s decisions on whether they should get vaccinated or eat GM food, for example.

So, we need to find out if there is a trust crisis – and that’s what we did: We surveyed almost 72,000 people in 68 countries, using a standardized online questionnaire.

What did these people say? In all 68 countries, most of them think that scientists are competent, have integrity, act in the interest of the public, and are open to other’s feedback – all of which are components of trust in science. So: No widespread crisis of trust in science after all.

But it’s more complicated. There are differences between countries: Several African countries have higher trust, but it’s less in others like the US. Also, there are differences within countries: In the US, conservatives and right-leaning people have lower trust.

So, there are pockets of the population who do not perceive scientists as trustworthy. This is a reason for concern.

What we can we do to increase trust in scientists? We as scientists, journalists, and nephews of your uncle?

We can engage more with those who have low trust – at schools, on social media, at the dinner table. Have honest conversations with them, take their concerns seriously. Have an academic minute before the dessert. Even if it may cause a small family crisis, it will prevent a societal crisis of trust in science.